Prior art for body bags concentrates on packaging, transporting and storing the remains. Body bags have not been a tool to assist in forensic analysis, taking fingerprints of the corpse, recording of the scene, preservation of observations, or chain of custody proofs.
A death investigator arriving at a crime scene will first confirm the death and conduct a scene walk through. Having a body bag that can also serve as a recording device for pertinent scene-walk-through observations and for coroner interactions with officials at the site can serve an important function in criminal investigation. For instance, the death investigator will typically identify the first responder to ascertain if any artifacts or contamination may have been introduced to the death scene. Audio recording of this interaction will create a subsequently reviewable record.
Existing tools for recovering fingerprints include brushes, powders, tape, chemicals, lift cards, a magnifying glass and Super Glue. Body bags having a fingerprint scanner that saves a cadaver's prints to an embedded hard drive are not known. Also, a body bag with an integral high definition camera can photograph and centrally store other discovered fingerprints made visible by these existing tools. Such a camera could also record and centrally store crime scene conditions, such as blood spatter patterns, which can reveal the type of weapon that was used.
Federal regulations deem all bodily fluids to be biohazards, so any blood or tissue at a crime scene is considered a potential source of infection. Existing body bags offer containment for such biohazards. If the victim is dead and there is blood on the body, the investigator will collect a blood sample either by submitting a piece of clothing or by using a sterile cloth square and a small amount of distilled water to remove some blood from the body. A body bag that also doubles as a means to record and centrally store the oral descriptions of where and when such samples are taken is an aid to documenting the conditions incident to such collection.
Once a body bag is zipped up, it can be unzipped for a number of reasons, such as for identification by the next of kin. Currently, there is no inherent means to automatically catalog the opening of the body bag or for recording the reasons for such action or the results of such action. A body bag that can store the time and date and also record the oral statements and video made when the bag is opened provides a heretofore missing ability to supplement and store identification information and chain of custody activities on the remains.